1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention is a mounting clip for securing the top row of vinyl siding between the next to top row and the soffit and in particular to a clip which will obviate marring of the surface of any of the mating panels while allowing relative motion between panels.
2. The Prior Art
There are numerous reason the building industry has had a preference for the use of vinyl siding. These reasons include, but are not restricted to, the fact that such siding has low wear and maintenance characteristics. Vinyl panels are generally extruded or formed into individual panels 12 feet long and 8 or 10 inches wide. Each panel is profiled to simulate one or more rows of the traditional lapped wooden siding and can even have a textured finish to complete the illusion of wooden siding. The panels are made with permanent coloring and with a variety of surface finishes all leading to the above mentioned low maintenance characteristics.
The rows of vinyl siding are installed with the panels in overlappinq and/or interlocking rows starting from the bottom of the wall. Each panel has an inturned bottom butt which is received in a downwardly directed channel configuration of the upper butt of the adjacent panel. The panel used at the top of a section of wall can be either a specially formed panel or, more likely, a standard panel modified to remove at least the upper butt and what ever panel surface necessary to make a proper fit. The lower edge of this panel engages the butt of the upper most row of siding and its upper edge cut or formed edge is received under the bottom lip of a finish trim. This is where there has been a problem in the past in that these top panels do not have the upper nail strip of the standard panel covering the remainder of the wall. No vinyl panel, regardless of its configuration, can have nails driven through the face. This would clearly mar the finished appearance while preventing the relative movement of the panels which is necessary to accommodate for differences in expansion and contraction due to changes in ambient temperature conditions.
Thus far one effort to come up with a solution to this problem can be found in U. S. Pat. No. 4,947,609. However, the clip described therein is not without problems. First, it has a rather complicated configuration involving two downwardly directed channels which make it difficult and expensive to manufacture. Second, it relies upon engaging in the nail slots in a panel thereby limiting float and causing the possibility of bulging of the panel with changes in ambient weather conditions.